SARAJEVO (BOSNIA ERZEGOVINA) (ITALPRESS/FENA) – Sarajevo is experiencing a tourist boom, with a record flow of visitors from all over the world. According to the agency Fena, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina is experiencing a summer full of great concerts, films and entertainment events, confirming that it is no longer a destination that foreign visitors discover only for its complex history, but a city that choose for its culture, its entertainment, its gastronomy and its nature. Over 100,000 tourists visited Sarajevo only in July, while a number of major events are turning the city into one of the most vibrant Balkan destinations this summer. Forty years after the Winter Olympics, Sarajevo once again demonstrates its extraordinary ability to attract people from all over the world, this time through music, cinema, art and vitality of city life. One of the most memorable moments of the summer occurred between the end of July and the beginning of August, when over 200,000 people filled the Kosevo stadium for three consecutive nights for the concerts of the local star Dino Merlin. The scope of the event was unprecedented, but even more significant was what he created: the music of one artist has joined people from different parts of Europe and has once again transformed the Olympic Stadium into a place of aggregation. People from all over the region and from all over Europe went to Sarajevo for their concerts. Among them were visitors who did not speak Bosnian but learned to sing Merlin’s songs. Some visited the city for the first time just for him. Chiara Fortunato, in Barcelona, went to Sarajevo for the concert, while Zuzana Bajer learned Bosnian thanks to Merlin’s music and later moved to Sarajevo. Stories like these show that the phenomenon cannot be reduced only to the number of visitors. People from all over the world came because they had fallen in love with a music with which they had not grown up and which they did not necessarily know the language. But the most powerful image was also the simplest: over 200,000 people singing together for three days. And what happened at the Kosevo Stadium quickly spread throughout the city. During the three days of Merlin’s concerts, Sarajevo has directed a turnover of almost 78 million euros, while hotels and private accommodation facilities were struggling to cope with the unexpected demand. The influx of visitors has been heard far beyond the stadium: in restaurants, cafes, shops, transport and other commercial activities. The great events are becoming increasingly a driving force for tourism in Sarajevo: they attract new visitors, extend their stays and offer them a reason to explore Sarajevo even outside the event itself. After Merlin’s concerts, Sarajevo continued its activity almost endlessly, with a busy calendar of important events. The concert of the legendary band The Prodigy, on 13 August, attracted another great wave of visitors and, already the next day, the city passed from the rhythm of concerts to the cinema with the inauguration of the 32nd edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. Inaugurated in 1995, during the last year of the siege of Sarajevo, the Sarajevo Film Festival became one of the most important film events in Europe. This year’s guests include Woody Harrelson, Emily Watson, Pawel Pawlikowski, Diego Luna, Asghar Farhadi and Cèline Sciamma. The Sarajevo Film Festival is one of the best examples of city transformation. An event born in a period in which Sarajevo was a symbol of war has now become one of its most recognizable international cultural brands. During the festival, the city is almost constantly animated by proiezions, concerts, parties and meetings with guests from all over the world. This summer, music and cinema tell the same story: that of a city that unites people. Yet, what attracts tourists in Sarajevo goes far beyond its main events. With a short walk of a few minutes, visitors can make a journey through several centuries of European history. Bascarsija preserves the Ottoman architecture, the ancient streets of artisans, mosques, inns and the tradition of Bosnian coffee, while a few hundred meters away, the streets and architecture reflect the Austro-Hungarian period. In the center of the city, a few hundred meters from each other, arise mosques, churches and a synagogue, which is why Sarajevo has often been described throughout history as a crossroads of cultures and religions. His story is also marked by events that have changed the world, including the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Francesco Ferdinando, an event that excavated the outbreak of World War I. Several sites also preserve the memory of the siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1995. For some foreign visitors, Sarajevo is still primarily associated with war because of the television images of the 1990s. The city of today, however, has a very different picture. Its central streets are full of tourists, restaurants, cafes, festivals and cultural events. At the same time, Sarajevo offers something that many European capitals do not have: Olympic mountains reachable in just about 15 minutes. Trebevic stands directly above the city, while Bjelasnica, Igman and Jahorina are all within easy reach, offering visitors the opportunity to combine a city holiday with excursions, cycling or winter sports. Another unusual tradition of Sarajevo is linked to Bentbasa, a few minutes from Bascarsija, where dives from the cliffs on the Miljacka river. Few European capitals host a sporting event of this kind in the heart of the city, surrounded by cliffs and a historical urban context. All this contributes to the growing popularity of Sarajevo as a tourist destination. But perhaps this summer’s Sarajevo is better understood through what happened between Kosevo and the streets of the city animated by the festivals. Forty years ago, people came to Sarajevo to participate in the Olympics. After the war, in 1997, the U2 launched a strong message with their concert in Kosevo: Sarajevo had returned to be the protagonist in the world. Today, four decades from the Olympics, people return to Sarajevo, but this time to celebrate. It comes for music, cinema, art, gastronomy and energy of city life. It comes for the great names of world culture, but also for the artists of this city whose songs travel well beyond its borders. (ITALPRESS). -Photos Fena-
